Cincinnati

Narduzzi became the defensive coordinator at the University of Cincinnati in 2004, and left in 2007 to coach at
Michigan State University. Narduzzi was a candidate for the head coaching position at Cincinnati, but
Central Michigan University head coach
Brian Kelly was named to the post on December 3, 2006. Narduzzi had informed University of Cincinnati officials that if he was not offered a permanent head coach position, he would follow
Mark Dantonio to
Michigan State University as defensive coordinator.

Michigan State

Narduzzi was brought along by
Mark Dantonio to revamp the depleted Michigan State defense that previous coach
John L. Smith left behind. Led by Narduzzi's stingy defenses, the Spartans improved dramatically, amassing four seasons of 11 or more wins, two
Big Ten Conference championships, and six victories over rival
Michigan in seven years. From 2011-2014, Michigan State was the only team to rank in the FBS Top 10 in total defense and rushing defense. Narduzzi was pursued for other jobs, including as defensive coordinator at
Texas A&M University and head coach at
University of Connecticut. Narduzzi chose to remain at Michigan State and helped the
2012 team and the
2013 team lead the Big Ten in total defense. In 2013, he won the
Broyles Award, which is given to the nation's best assistant coach. In his last game as MSU's defensive coordinator, the Spartans won the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic by rallying from 20 points down in the fourth quarter and finished the season with an overall record of 11-2. Dantonio said of Narduzzi after the game "You want the best for your people. To win the last game like that for Coach Narduzzi was something that we could to send him out with and that will be a memory for life. He's been incredibly loyal here. He's an extremely hard worker. He's been extremely successful. And now it's time for him to grow. He'll grow as the head coach at the University of Pittsburgh. They're getting a great football coach and a great person and a guy who is going to impact young people. So it's going to be very exciting for him as well as his family."[1]

In 2015, Narduzzi lead Pitt to an 8–5 record and a trip to the
Military Bowl where they lost to
Navy, 44–28. In 2016, Narduzzi lead Pitt to another 8–5 record and a trip to the
Pinstripe Bowl where they lost to
Northwestern, 31–24. His second season was highlighted by two top-five wins, a 43–42 upset win over eventual national champion
Clemson and a 42-39 victory over eventual Big Ten champion
Penn State. Pitt opened up 2017 with optimism over QB Max Browne but struggled in a 28-21 win over FCS Youngstown State. The team lost 33-14 the next week to Penn State. Then, Narduzzi's defense struggled as they lost 59-21 to #9 Oklahoma State. After losing 35-17 in their ACC opener to Georgia Tech, they destroyed Rice 42-10. They lost 2 in a row to Syracuse (27-24) and #20 NC State (35-17). They then won 2 in a row over Duke (24-17) and Virginia (31-14). However, they lost 34-31 to North Carolina to drop to 4-6 (2-4). Then Virginia Tech stopped them at the goal-line and Pitt lost 20-14. Then on Black Friday, Pitt shocked #2 Miami 24-14 and went 5-7 (3-5) in Narduzzi's 3rd season.